7 May 2024

• Polity: PRS Legislative Research released its annual review of state legislature functioning, revealing that 40 per cent of aggregate state budgets were passed without discussion.
• Elections: Nepal's cabinet approved printing a Rs 100 currency note depicting areas disputed with India, including Lipulekh and Kalapani, reviving the border cartography dispute.
• Water disputes: The Supreme Court was asked to adjudicate fresh issues in the Mullaperiyar dam dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• Finance: The Finance Act 2023 amendment requiring buyers to pay MSMEs within 45 days produced an unintended consequence: companies began shifting orders to unregistered MSMEs.

GS area: Polity (Parliament and State Legislatures)

PRS Legislative Research released its Annual Review of State Legislatures 2023, documenting a deterioration in the quality of legislative functioning across states.

• PRS Legislative Research: An independent, non-profit research body established in September 2005. It analyses legislation and the functioning of Parliament and state legislatures.
• Bills passed: States passed an average of 18 Bills in 2023. Maharashtra led with 49 Bills. Delhi and Puducherry passed only 2 Bills each.
• Budget passed without discussion: Forty per cent of the Rs 18 lakh crore aggregate state budget across 10 states was passed without discussion. This is a significant democratic deficit: the budget is the legislature's primary tool of financial oversight.
• Same-day passage: Forty-four per cent of all Bills were passed on the same day or the day following introduction, without any meaningful legislative scrutiny.
• Governor's assent: Only 59 per cent of Bills received the Governor's assent within one month of passage. Delays in assent have been a contested constitutional issue.
• Committee referrals: Only 23 out of over 500 Bills were referred to legislative committees for detailed examination. This compares poorly with Parliament's earlier practice.
• Public Accounts Committee (PAC): State PACs held an average of 24 sittings and tabled 16 reports per state, a key measure of post-expenditure legislative oversight.

Static linkage: State legislature functioning, democratic accountability, governor's role.

GS area: Polity (Federalism), Geography

The Supreme Court took up fresh issues in the long-running interstate dispute over the Mullaperiyar dam.

• Location: Idukki district, Kerala. The dam is built where the Periyar River crosses into Kerala from Tamil Nadu.
• The dam: Built between 1887 and 1895, it is over 126 years old. It uses a lime and surkhi mortar construction unusual for dams of its kind.
• Ownership and management: The dam is owned and operated by Tamil Nadu under an 1886 lease from the Travancore maharaja. The lease runs for 999 years. Despite being physically in Kerala, it is under Tamil Nadu's operational control.
• Water levels: The Supreme Court allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the water level to 142 feet in 2014. Tamil Nadu seeks restoration of the original 152-foot level. Kerala argues safety concerns prevent a higher water level.
• Periyar River: Kerala's longest river at 244 km. It originates in the Sivagiri hills of Tamil Nadu and flows through Kerala into the Vembanad lake system.
• The 2024 hearing: Tamil Nadu accused Kerala of obstructing routine maintenance work on the dam. The Supreme Court framed issues for consideration in the fresh suit.

Static linkage: Interstate water disputes, dam safety, river geography.

GS area: International Relations (India-Nepal), Polity (Border)

Nepal's cabinet on 2 May 2024 approved the printing of a new Rs 100 currency note featuring a map that includes the disputed territories of Lipulekh, Limpiyadhura, and Kalapani. The notes entered circulation in early May.

• The territories: Lipulekh Pass (at the India-Nepal-Tibet tri-junction), Limpiyadhura (upstream origin of the Kali River according to Nepal), and Kalapani (a strategic plateau administered by India).
• India's position: These territories belong to India. The Ministry of External Affairs described Nepal's claim as "artificial enlargement" and "untenable."
• Treaty of Sagauli (1816): The Treaty of Sugauli demarcated the border between British India and Nepal, specifying the River Kali (Mahakali) as the boundary. The dispute centres on where the Kali originates. India says it originates at Pankhagad. Nepal argues it originates at Limpiyadhura or Lipulekh, which would place Kalapani within Nepal's territory.
• 2020 precedent: Nepal amended its constitution in 2020 to include these territories in its official map. The 2024 currency note is a continuation of that position.
• Strategic significance: Lipulekh Pass is used by the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage route. Kalapani lies at a strategically important tri-junction.

Static linkage: India-Nepal relations, border disputes, Treaty of Sugauli.

GS area: Governance, Health Policy

A CAG report on the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) highlighted significant implementation gaps in grievance redressal.

• PMJAY: Launched in 2018 as the insurance component of Ayushman Bharat. It provides health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation. All pre-existing conditions are covered from day one.
• Ministry: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• CAG finding: Only approximately 10 per cent of grievances were resolved within the mandated 15-day timeline.
• Other concerns: The CAG also noted instances of dual billing by private hospitals and persistent high out-of-pocket expenditure despite insurance coverage.
• Scale: PMJAY is one of the world's largest publicly funded health assurance schemes. It targets approximately 10.74 crore families (roughly 50 crore individuals) from the most vulnerable sections.

Static linkage: Ayushman Bharat, health policy, CAG's role.

GS area: Economy (MSMEs, Taxation)

An amendment in the Finance Act 2023 (effective from 1 April 2024) made it mandatory for buyers to pay MSMEs within 45 days. If payment was delayed, the outstanding amount would be added to the buyer's taxable income.

• Intended effect: Protect registered MSMEs from late payments, a chronic problem for small businesses that often lack bargaining power against large corporate buyers.
• Unintended consequence: Large companies began shifting orders away from registered MSMEs to unregistered or informal suppliers, for whom the 45-day rule did not apply. Registered MSMEs reported losing orders and were surrendering their MSME registration to remain competitive.
• MSME definition: Enterprises are classified as Micro, Small, or Medium based on annual turnover and investment in plant and machinery. The revised definition (2020) brought more enterprises within the registered MSME ecosystem.
• Ministry: Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

Static linkage: MSME policy, Finance Act provisions, taxation and its unintended effects.

GS area: Science and Technology

Researchers at Linköping University in Sweden produced Goldene, the first freestanding one-atom-thick sheet of gold, published in Nature Synthesis.

• What it is: A two-dimensional (2D) metal sheet where gold atoms are arranged in a single layer. Previous 2D materials (graphene from carbon, molybdenum disulfide) were non-metallic or semiconductors. Gold in 2D has different properties from bulk gold.
• Production method: Silicon was sandwiched between titanium carbide layers. Gold was deposited on the silicon layer, and the titanium carbide was then etched away using Murakami's reagent, leaving the freestanding gold sheet.
• Applications: Electronics catalysis, CO2 conversion, hydrogen generation, and water purification. At the 2D scale, gold becomes highly reactive in contrast to bulk gold's chemical inertness.
• Significance: Opens a new domain of 2D metals with tunable electronic properties for clean energy and electronics.

Static linkage: Nanotechnology, materials science, clean energy.

• Bhadra Tiger Reserve: Located in the Western Ghats, Chikkamagaluru district, Karnataka. It was declared the 25th Project Tiger Reserve in 1998. It also functions as an Elephant Reserve. Vegetation types include dry-deciduous, moist-deciduous, shola grasslands, and semi-evergreen forests.
• SCBA women's reservation: The Supreme Court Bar Association reserved one-third of its executive committee seats (3 of 9) for women, and 2 of 6 senior executive member posts. Data: 11 women have served as Supreme Court judges since independence (out of 268 total). Justice Fathima Beevi was the first woman SC judge (1989). Women constitute 13 per cent of High Court judges and 15 per cent of practising lawyers.